Pézenas

French commune
nomcommune=Pézenas
Town hall
région=Languedoc-Roussillon
département=Hérault
arrondissement=Béziers
canton=Pézenas
insee=34199
cp=34120
maire=Alain Vogel-Singer
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Hérault Méditerranée
longitude=3.42361111111
latitude=43.4605555556
alt moy=15 m
alt mini=3
alt maxi=96 m
hectares=2956
km²=29.56
sans=7443
date-sans=1999
dens=251
date-dens=1999

Pézenas is a commune in the Hérault department in Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France.

Name

From the older name "Piscenae", probably from the Latin word "piscenis", meaning fishpond. According to legend, there was a lake full of fish behind the Chateau. Inhabitants of Pézenas are "Piscenois".

Origins

The origins of Pézenas are unclear, but were influenced by three factors: water from the River Peyne, an ancient pre-Roman route from Rodez to Saint-Thibéry and a defensive hill.

Monuments

* The old town centre with narrow streets and Hôtel Privet (rather grand Town Houses from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, when Pézenas was the Seat of The Governors of Languedoc).
* The Collégiale Saint-Jean church (18th century), designed by Jean-Baptiste Franque, contains an organ by Lépine.
* Church of Saint-Jean-de-Bébian, romanesque, classed as a "Monument historique" (Historic monument).
* The church of Sainte-Ursule, built in 1686 by the master mason Antoine Carrier, became the parish church after the Concordat.
* Molière Monument (1897) by Jean-Antoine Injalbert.
* L'illustre Théâtre, theatre in converted warehouse, open all year
* Vulliod Saint-Germain museum: collections illustrating the town's history and a room dedicated to Molière.
* Door museum

* "See Château de Pézenas for details of the castle site."

Transportation

* Road: Route nationale 9, which used to pass through the town centre, has been replaced by a bypass which now forms the final few miles of the A75 autoroute from Clermont-Ferrand, soon to be extended the last few miles to join the A9 at Béziers.

* Rail: Nearest main line station is Agde. Two single track lines used to serve Pézenas. The track from Béziers has been removed, though the station (Gare du Nord) still exists as a cultural centre. The line from Vias, near Agde, is still used occasionally by freight trains from a quarry further north, but the Gare du Midi station is closed.

*Air: Nearest international airports are Montpellier, Nîmes, Perpignan and Carcassonne. Béziers Cap d'Agde Airport is closer and has daily flights to Paris, with international service to the UK and Denmark starting in 2008 following the lengthening of its runway. A small grass airstrip is nearby at Nizas.

Famous people

Pézenas was the birthplace of

* Boby Lapointe (1922-1972): writer, singer, comedian
* Louis Paulhan (1883-1963): pioneering French pilot
* Paul Vidal de la Blache (1845-1918), geographer, regarded as the father of modern French geography
* Emile Mazuc (b. 24 July 1832), author of Languedoc dialect grammar - "Grammaire Languedocienne:Dialecte de Pézénas" (1899, reprinted 1970 by Slatkine Reprints, Geneva)
* Hippolyte Annex (b. 14 July 1933), French middlewight boxing champion
* Bernie Ripoll MHR (b. 6 January, 1966), Australian politician, Member for Oxley, QueenslandPeople linked with Pézenas
* Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622-1673), playwright, stayed in Pézenas with his theatre group "l'Illustre Théâtre".
* Gabriel François Venel (1723-1775) chemist, author of "l'Encyclopédie méthodique de chimie" (1796), inventor of seltzer water, lived and worked in the town and has a street named after him. "(See [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Fran%C3%A7ois_Venel French wikipedia article] "
* Edmond Charlot (1915-2004), editor in Free French Algiers during the 1940s, and discoverer of Albert Camus, lived in Pézenas from 1980.
* Lord Clive (1725-1774) stayed in the town in 1768, supposedly giving it the recipe for the "petit pâté de Pézenas"
* Alexandra Rosenfeld Miss France 2006 and Miss Europe 2006, (born in Béziers and living in Saint-Thibéry, is studying tourism in Pézenas)
* Jean-Baptiste Pillement, a Rococo painter, famous for his chinoiserie and landscapes.

Local specialities

* "Le petit pâté de Pézenas": a small sweet/savoury pie supposedly made to a recipe from Clive of India. (see below)
*"Le berlingot de Pézenas": boiled sugar sweets

"Le petit pâté de Pézenas"

The size and shape of a large cotton reel, these little pies are a golden brown, crispy pastry with a moist, sweet inside. They can be eaten as an "hors d'oeuvre", with a salad or as a dessert. They are cooked in "patisseries" all over the town, but their origin is far from local. Tradition has it that Lord Clive brought the recipe from India and taught it to the pastry makers of Pézenas when he was staying at the Chateau de Larzac in 1768. It is more likely is that his servants were responsible.

Twin towns

Pézenas is twinned with Market Drayton, UK, birthplace of Lord Clive.

References

* Bonnefont, Marie Elise "Pézenas: le temps d'une balade" (Bonnefont, 2003) ISBN 2-9520940-0-4

External links

* [http://www.ot-pezenas-valdherault.com/index.php Tourist office]